Pretzel Log Cabin

To Assemble Roof: Placed two graham crackers on waxed paper. Cut a small hole in the bottom corner of a pastry bag; insert #10 dot tip if desired (or pipe directly from bag). Fill back two-thirds full with white icing and refill as needed.

Pipe or frost one short end of one cracker and butt the other cracker against it, making a 10-in. x 2-1/2 in. rectangle.

Repeat five more times. Set tow long rectangles aside for porch roof and floor. Pipe the 10-in. edge of a long rectangle and butt the 10-in. edge of a another long rectangle against it, making a 10-in. x 5-in. rectangle for one side of the roof. Repeat for other side of roof.

Working with one side of the roof at a time, frost entire roof with white icing. Press pecan halves end to end in straight lines along short sides (see photo above right). There will be about four rows of 14 pecans per row on each side of roof. Repeat for other side. Repeat for porch roof, pressing on tow rows of about 14 pecans per row. Allow to dry, uncovered, overnight.

To Assemble Sides of House: With four pretzel rods lying flat on waxed paper, apply a 1/4-in. wide strip of icing along the top edge of each, beginning 1/2 in. from one end and ending by icing the tip of the other end.

To form the front of the house, center one iced pretzel rod, icing side down, 7 in. from the front of the foil-covered 18-in.-square base. Add a second pretzel rod, again icing side down at right angles to the first, placing it so the iced end is 1/2 in. form the un-iced end of the first rod. Repeat with a third and fourth rod, so that these first four rods form a square base with a 1/2-in. end extending at each corner.

Add a second row, allowing the 1/2-in. un-iced ends to extend in the opposite direction.

Prop sides upright with spice jars for 2-3 minutes until icing hardens, then remove jars. Repeat process until each side is nine pretzel rods high.

For Side Peaks: Place seven pretzel rods side by side on waxed paper. Using a serrated knife, cut the ends othe rods at an angle to form a triangle with longest one measuring 7 in. and shortest one measure 1-1/2 in.

Frost the top of the longest rod; butt the next longest pretzel against it. Repeat with remaining cut pretzels. Frost bottom of triangle and adhere to top edge of one side of house. Prop with tall cans or jars. Add a small triangle of icing at top of the triangle. Repeat process for opposite side. Allow to dry completely.

Featured Recipes

Longing to live in a log cabin? The house plans on these pages put the next best thing at your fingertips. And a kitchen, not a contractor, is all you need to do the construction!
This miniature abode, created by the CW Test Kitchen staff, consists mostly of ready-made ingredients. It's so easy to put together that kids (or grandkids) will love to "hire on" as part of your holiday building crew.
So, if a real log cabin's not in your immediate future, why not put up this cozy replica this season? Then dream of log-cabin Christmases to come!